Green Times

Genetically modified food has a role to play in addressing the impending climate-related food crisisThe food riots that hit Indonesia last month and drew 10,000 angry protestors onto the streets of Jakarta offer a flavour of the trouble in store for governments and companies over the coming years.

Indonesians have been outraged at soaring soya bean prices, which have risen almost 90 per cent over the past year. The rises have occurred in part because of shortages in global soya markets as farmers in the US and Latin America shift production into crops for biofuels.

Concerns about biofuels eating up valuable agricultural land are by now well known. But as a longer-term pressure, climate change could have an even more devastating impact on food supply. It is one that could lead to further riots in Indonesia, and beyond.

Climate change will cause a net drop in food production. Yes, there may be grapes in Greenland, but farmers in vast swathes of the global south will face tougher conditions. Food growing capacity in India is set to drop by almost 40 per cent by 2080 compared with current levels; and developing countries as a whole will experience a net loss in food production of more than 20 per cent, according to a 2007 study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics in the US.
[Read full article at: Ethical Corporation]